The winter solstice is coming again. Although it is a solar term, it is also one of the traditional festivals, so people pay more attention to it. There is a folk saying that "the winter solstice is as big as a year", which shows the importance people attach to this solar term. On such an important day, of course, eating traditional food is indispensable. So, what kind of custom food do you usually eat on the winter solstice? The following is to introduce you to the food inventory in the north and south of the winter solstice.

what kind of custom food to eat during the winter solstice?

Food inventory in the north and south during the winter solstice

North:

1. Mutton

There is a custom of eating mutton during the winter solstice in the north, because after the winter solstice, the weather enters the coldest period, and eating a pot of stewed mutton at this time has double effects of keeping out the cold and nourishing. Mutton is warm in nature, which can resist wind-cold and tonify the body. It has curative effects on wind-cold asthma, impotence due to kidney deficiency, deficiency of both qi and blood, soreness of waist and knees, cold limbs and abdominal pain, sallow complexion and emaciation. In winter, the human body has yang hidden in it, and the kidney yang is insufficient, which is prone to cold hands and feet, dull face, weakness and other symptoms, while mutton is sweet but not greasy, warm but not dry, and has always been regarded as a good product for nourishing yang.

2. Wonton

In Beijing, there is a proverb called "Winter Solstice Wonton Summer Solstice Noodles". In the past, there was a saying in Beijing that wonton was eaten on the winter solstice. Wonton, a kind of food symbolizing reunion, was the first choice on the winter solstice table. Wonton has many names, such as Wonton in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, Wonton in Guangdong, Noodles in Hubei, Clear Soup in Jiangxi, Wonton in Sichuan, Ququ in Xinjiang and so on.

According to legend, during the Han Dynasty, Xiongnu in the north often harassed the frontier, and the people were restless. At that time, there were two leaders of Hun tribe and Tun tribe, which were very cruel. The people hated it, so they wrapped it into a corner with meat stuffing and called it "wonton" with the sound of "muddy" and "tun". Hate to eat, and seek to calm the war and live a peaceful life. Because wonton was originally made on the winter solstice, every household eats wonton on the winter solstice in Beijing.

Regardless of whether the legend is true or not, the nutritional value of wonton is still relatively high. Its greatest advantage is that protein has all kinds of stuffing and skins, which can complement protein and improve the nutritional value of a single food. If you want the wonton stuffing to be fragrant and not greasy, you should add ginger, salt, monosodium glutamate and other seasonings to the stuffing.

3. Dog meat

Some people who are weak and suffer from arthritis are good at eating more dog meat in severe winter. But it is not advisable to eat dog meat blindly, so as not to eat rabies meat and get rabies. Dog meat is a hot food and should not be eaten too much at a time. Anyone suffering from non-deficiency cold diseases such as cough, cold, fever, diarrhea and hyperactivity of fire due to yin deficiency should not eat it.

4. jiaozi

During the winter solstice in the twenty-four solar terms of the lunar calendar, people in northern China have always had the custom of eating jiaozi. There are many folklores about eating jiaozi on the winter solstice, and the most mainstream one is from Zhang Zhongjing.

Winter Solstice Cuisine

South:

1. Tangyuan

Since the Song Dynasty, people in China have eaten Tangyuan on the Lantern Festival. After the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Jiangnan people also used glutinous rice balls to worship their ancestors and stoves on the winter solstice. Gu Lu recorded in Volume 11 of Qing Jia Lu (183): "Bihu grinds flour into a ball, stuffed with sugar, meat, cowpea paste and shredded reed, which is the product of offering sacrifices to the stove first, and is called the' Winter Solstice Ball' by feeding it".

Among them, glutinous rice balls are divided into different sizes. The big ones with stuffing are called rice balls, which are offerings for ancestor worship at night, while the smaller ones without stuffing are offerings for worship in the morning.

2. Roasting meat

On the winter solstice, most Cantonese people have the custom of "adding vegetables" to eat meat on the winter solstice. Among them, roasted meat is an indispensable traditional food on the table of Guangdong people during the winter solstice. The whole family prepares some bacon and sausage to eat after offering sacrifices to their ancestors, so as to pray for coming to lucky strike next year.

Bacon is no longer just sausage, but also preserved fish, bacon, preserved duck, preserved chicken and so on. The oily and delicious clay pot rice in a pot easily captures people's heart of constantly pursuing delicious food.

3. Sweet Pills

According to legend, there was a custom of "drinking wine and dishes and paying homage to aged person" on the winter solstice in the Han Dynasty. Since the Song and Yuan Dynasties, it has been popular to eat sweet pills. Sweet pill is not only a sweet soup made of glutinous rice flour and water-rubbed pills, but also the most representative food on the winter solstice. Before the winter solstice, farmers' housewives made glutinous rice flour in succession (nowadays, it is mostly rolled mechanically), and some exchanged needed goods as gifts for relatives and friends.

On the morning of the winter solstice, adults and children at home often sit around a bamboo gourd or a big plate, each extracting a powder ball made by kneading glutinous rice flour and water beforehand, and kneading it into marbles with both hands, which is called "Winter Solstice Pill". "Winter Solstice Pill" symbolizes the fullness of the whole family at the end of the year. Some "Winter Solstice Pills" are also filled with orange cake, melon candy and bean paste, commonly known as "duck mother's cup", and "Winter Solstice Pills" can be rubbed in different sizes at will, which is a good sign for "Gongsun Pills". In Chaoshan, there is a folk proverb "Winter Solstice Pill, the Chinese New Year will be celebrated as soon as it is eaten", commonly known as "adding the year", which means that although the year has not passed, everyone has added one year.

4. Nine-layer cakes

Taiwan Province still keeps the tradition of using nine-layer cakes to worship ancestors on the winter solstice. Glutinous rice flour is kneaded into chickens, ducks, turtles, pigs, cows, sheep and other animals symbolizing good luck and happiness, and then steamed in layers in a steamer to worship ancestors to show that they will not forget their ancestors.